Hoplites

From: G. Fried (address.removed@nowhere.tld)
Date: Mon 15 Nov 1993 - 20:37:34 EET

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G. Fried here.

Since there still seems to be some interest in the topic of parallels between Glorantha and ancient Greece, I thought I'd tell you all about a very interesting book I got out of the library recently: _Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience_, ed. Victor Davis Hanson (London: Routledge, 1991 [ISBN 0-415-04148-1]). This is, as the title indicates, a collection of essays on the use of hoplites in Greek warfare. THe three essays most interesting for RQers ate "Hoplite Weapons and Offensive Arms," "Hoplite Technology in Phalanx Battle," and "The Killing Zone." "The General as Hoplite" is also illuminating for an account of just how you might imagine a Lunar or Yelmalion commander functioning with his troops.

A few things I learned:
- Once combat was engaged, it was VERY difficult to perform any maneuvers
with a hoplite phalanx. The general's role and skill would come into play only before the troops met toe to toe.

• Pushing was very important. (And so those shield push games among the Yelmalions are very apposite.) The idea seems to be that the first rank tries to wound and/or knock over the opponents, allowing the whole phalanx to rush forward. It is then the job of the back ranks to finish off the downed foes. A very specific technology evolved for this purpose: the butt-spike. The butt of the spear was fitted with a relatively blunt, bronze point. The rear ranks would carry their spears vertically, and anyone lying on the ground could easily be dealt a powerful downward blow with this butt, piercing most chest or head armor. Also, if the spear shaft broke, the butt-spike allowd the spear itself to be wielded as a secondary weapon. Swords were basically useless in the phalanx: long ones, because they require too much room to swing; short ones, because you'd have to stoop over to finish off a downed foe (although short swords were the preferred secondary weapons, since if you had to resort to it, at least you would not disrupt the ranks -- and so the shortsword superceded the longer sword of the more aristocratic period of warfare).
• Hoplite warfare is by its nature anti-aristocratic. Individual skill counts for nothing; there is no breaking ranks to make individual, heroic challenges. Skill must the skill of the whole troop, and this demands the common training of a class of citizens able to afford the armor and the time to train. This is why full citizenship was granted often only to the hoplite class. BUt even Socrates, the son of a stone worker, was wealthy enough to serve as a hoplite in his younger days.

What all this implies for RQ, I'm not sure, except that the rules developed for individual combat must become irrelevant in certain massed combat situations -- realism would not be served by having every member of a phalanx roll his Attack and Parry %. Also, a really well trained hoplite force implies a degree of political enfranchisement that is perhaps not in keeping with Yelmalion culture. But I'm not entirely sure on this one.

GF out.

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